Wedding Venue Checklist

The venue is the largest single line in most wedding budgets and the hardest decision to reverse. This checklist changes by venue type, because the questions that matter at a hotel are not the questions that matter in a field.

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How to use it

Choose your venue type — church, hotel, outdoor, tent, restaurant or backyard.
Work through the questions on your site visit, ticking as you go.
Your ticks save automatically, so you can compare two venues across separate visits.
Print the list before you go, or bring it up on your phone at the venue.

The five questions that decide everything

Whatever the venue type, five answers determine whether the rest of the planning is easy or hard:

What exactly is included? Tables, chairs, linens, glassware, staff, setup, teardown, parking. Two venues quoting the same headline figure can differ by thousands once you price what one of them leaves out.
How many hours, and when does the clock start? Some venues count from your arrival, others from guest arrival, others from when your vendors begin setting up. Overtime is expensive and is billed in whole hours.
Are we required to use your vendors? Exclusive catering or bar contracts remove your ability to shop the largest line in the budget. Preferred-vendor lists are fine; mandatory ones are a cost decision disguised as a convenience.
What is the wet-weather plan, and when is the call made? For anything outdoors this is the question. "We'll see on the day" is not a plan. You want a named indoor space, a stated deadline for the decision, and to know who makes it.
What time does the music have to stop? Noise ordinances end weddings. Ask for the hard curfew, not the scheduled end time, and whether amplified music outdoors is treated differently.

What to look at that nobody shows you

A venue tour shows you the venue at its best, at the wrong time of day, empty. Look past it.

Visit at the hour your wedding will actually happen — a room that photographs beautifully at 11am can be lit by a single fluorescent panel at 7pm. Check the guest toilets, their number and their distance from the reception. Walk the route a guest with limited mobility would take from the car park to their seat, and count the steps. Find the power outlets, because the band and the caterer will both need them and neither will mention it until the day. Ask where the caterer actually works: a venue with no real kitchen limits your menu to whatever can be finished in a marquee out the back.

Then check what happens next door. A venue with two function rooms may have another wedding running simultaneously, sharing your car park, your toilets and your soundscape.

Reading the contract before you sign it

Four clauses are worth finding and reading in full:

Cancellation and postponement. What is refundable, at what notice, and is postponement to a new date treated differently from cancellation? Post-2020 contracts usually address this; older templates often do not.
Minimum spend. Distinguish a food-and-beverage minimum from a venue hire fee — the first can often be met by upgrading the menu or bar, which at least buys you something.
Service charge and tax. Confirm whether the headline figure includes them. A 22% service charge plus tax turns a $15,000 quote into roughly $19,000.
What happens if the venue changes hands. Ownership changes, and a new operator may not honour the terms you agreed. Ask whether the contract survives a sale.

Backyard and bare-land weddings

A venue you already have access to looks free, and is not. Budget for what a venue would otherwise have supplied: a marquee, flooring, tables, chairs, linens, lighting, generators, heaters, and portable toilets — that last one at roughly one unit per 50 guests for a five-hour event. Rentals for a 100-guest backyard wedding commonly land between $5,000 and $12,000.

Then check the things a commercial venue has already solved: whether the household electrics can carry a band and a caterer without tripping, whether the ground stays firm if it rains, where 40 cars will park, whether the local authority requires a permit for a marquee or amplified music, and whether your home insurance covers 100 guests on the property. It is frequently cheaper than a venue — but the saving is smaller than it first appears, and the work is yours.

Frequently asked questions

How far ahead should we book a venue?

Twelve to eighteen months for a Saturday in peak season, and popular venues go further out than that. Off-season and midweek dates stay available much longer, and are usually 20–30% cheaper — often at the same venue.

How much of the budget should the venue take?

Venue and catering together typically account for 45–55% of the total. The venue alone is usually 20–30%, though a venue that includes catering can reach 50% on its own. Compare what is included rather than the headline figures.

Should we visit more than once?

Yes, and ideally at your wedding's time of day and in different weather. Many couples visit a venue once on a bright afternoon and book a room they have never seen lit as it will be lit on the night.

What deposit is normal?

Typically 25–50% to hold the date, with the balance due two to four weeks before. Confirm the refund terms and the payment dates in writing before transferring anything.

Can we bring our own alcohol?

Sometimes, and it is worth asking, because it is one of the largest available savings. Venues that permit it often charge a corkage fee per bottle, which can erase the benefit — get the per-bottle figure and do the arithmetic before assuming.